Neal: Timberwolves players find solutions to all their problems right nearby — in their teammates

At times, they were sloppy on the boards.

At times, they were very sloppy taking care of the ball.

And at times, when they did everything right, they simply were bad shots.

The one thing the Wolves weren’t for most of Wednesday was selfish. And they are on their way to their second consecutive Western Conference finals because of it.

Anthony Edwards established a ball-sharing mentality from the opening tip, and the Wolves rode that mentality to a 121-110 victory over Golden State as Target Center celebrated a 4-1 series win with cheers of “Wolves in five!”

Yes, it was a delayed sweep after the Wolves stumbled in Game 1. And some of the stuff that went on Wednesday — namely the 20 turnovers — could cost them in the next round if it flares up again.

The key is that they are on to the next round.

The healthier team with the deeper roster prevailed in this second-round series against a franchise that has been to conference semifinals nine of the past 10 times it has been to the playoffs. The Warriors aren’t the same behemoth they were while winning four championships. And the greatest shooter in the history of the game, Steph Curry, hasn’t played since the second half of Game 2.

But you beat the team that takes the floor against you. Injuries play a role in every postseason. Boston, without superstar Jayson Tatum. still pounded the Knicks on Wednesday to push that series to a sixth game. Cleveland was affected by numerous injuries in its series loss to the Pacers. We found out how banged up LeBron James and Luka Doncic were toward the end of the Lakers’ first-round series against the Wolves.

Twins fans know what it is like to watch their team try to win a postseason series without Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau or Francisco Liriano because they were injured. This time, a Minnesota team didn’t have to improvise because of health. The Wolves took advantage of it.

Curry being sidelined removed entertainment and intrigue from the series. The Wolves played the advantage and attacked Wednesday with excellent ball movement and unselfishness.

“Our guys took care of business,” Wolves coach Chris Finch said. “And that’s not something we’ve always done. I thought we had a bunch of businesslike approaches in this series and took advantage of something that happened, and we made the best of it.

“So no need to apologize.”

Edwards didn’t have a field goal attempt until he sank a three-pointer with 6:38 remaining in the first quarter. He assisted on the Wolves’ first three baskets, a layup by Rudy Gobert followed by three-pointers by Julius Randle and Mike Conley.

That got the Wolves going as everyone looked to make the extra pass. They passed around the Warriors zone and buried their final four three-point attempts of the second quarter. Mike Conley scored eight of their final 13 points of the second quarter to give the Wolves a 62-47 halftime lead that was built on 20 assists.

The lead grew to as much as 25 points late in the third quarter before Golden State pushed back, gaining ground as the Wolves kept fouling up fast breaks with turnovers. But the Wolves maintained a double-digit lead for the majority of the game.

While the Wolves committed those 20 turnovers, they set a franchise postseason record with 36 assists. Edwards’ 12 assists are his playoff career high. Conley had eight. Julius Randle had five. Donte DiVincenzo had six.

Making the extra pass aided in the Wolves shooting 62.8 percent from the field. They made nine of their final 17 three-point shots. Take that into the next round, please.

“I thought the ball movement was great,” Finch said. “I thought the spacing was great. When you play a team in a series, you start to figure some things out, hopefully. These guys did a good job of figuring out the zone and all the changing people.”

In the fourth quarter, fans could focus more on winning a free chicken sandwich if Golden State missed free throws than sweating out a close game. With 51.4 seconds remaining, they erupted with cheers when Wolves nemesis Draymond Green was removed from the game. The celebration was on.

The Wolves are back in the Western Conference finals. And they put their foot on the throat of a wounded Warriors team to get there.